Caravan to New Vegas | Teen Ink

Caravan to New Vegas

May 12, 2014
By sethc4 BRONZE, Shelton, Washington
sethc4 BRONZE, Shelton, Washington
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Well after an eternity of walking, I was finally here... The Mohave Outpost not quite what I expected, just two small buildings from before the war they looked about to collapse but then again what didn’t these days. It’s been nearly 200 years since the so called end came but somehow humanity managed to survive, the human race is stubborn like that. The gate behind me marks the last of completely NCR controlled territory, the New California Republic is made up of five states in what was once called California a new flag in an old world. The republic tried its best to remake the world how it once was but was the system that failed the old world really the best system for this irradiated hell-hole we call home.

"Bryce c'mon get ready to leave that major Knight just cleared our papers the caravan can go" that was Jake my friend from childhood he was tall with blond hair he always reminded me of Grognack the barbarian from those old pre-war comic books. "ok I’ll get the Brahmin ready, you go fetch our guard from the bar... if he can still walk." as Jake runs off to the bar I begin walking to the Brahmin pens such strange creatures Brahmin, two heads, no hair and horribly ugly but they were the only pack animal that managed to survive the war without too much mutation, pretty much everything had some sort of mutation by now. I was lucky enough to only have 7 toes, but Jake on the other hand got hit with some nasty rads on a salvaging trip. he said that he found an old toy rocket out near the old Repcon test site, when he picked it up the top came off and a strange glowing goo poured all over his left arm. since then the skin has peeled off his arm exposing the bare muscle beneath, he is still very lucky though he could have become a ghoul if he hadn't taken some rad-away right after it happened. I nearly finish getting the Brahmins packs on it always was unnerving putting these packs on… the gun runners have a habit of rigging the cargo to explode if its opened, sure it cuts down on raider attacks but every now and then you hear stories about a unfortunate soul having an accident.


"Bryce would you give me a hand here" I turn to see Jake dragging our comrade in arms out of the bar we've only been here one hour and he's already passed out "yeah" I run over to Jake and help him carry our guard to the Brahmin we then toss him over the filthy beast and make our way out of the outpost passing under the huge scrap statues as we do so, the unification monument they call it... wasn’t much to look at just two soldiers shaking hands, it’s very rare to see anything built after the war. If the desert rangers hadn't agreed to join the NCR would have forced them they've done it before what’s to keep them from doing it again. We stop for a brief moment to look down upon the road before us we can vaguely see prim in the distance, this is going to be quite the walk, and our first trip to New Vegas who knows what lies ahead.


our guard finally came back to life outside prim "Bryce we should probably stop for some supply’s before we go further" said Jake "yeah yeah that old casino looks like a good place" our guard Carlos added "no we can stop at Goodsprings I don’t want to give our guard another chance to pass out" "you callin' me a drunk" yells Carlos as he swings a wild punch for my head. I duck and give him an uppercut right in the jaw and he's out cold once again... what was the point of even bringing him? We sling him over our pack animals again and set out into the wastes towards Goodsprings.



we were walking near an old burned out building just before the turn to Goodsprings when out of nowhere gunfire erupts "get behind the building where's Carlos we could really use his help about now" as Jake says this his voice seems to quake with fear "still passed out uhh Jake have you noticed that not a single bullet has landed near us..." "your right it seems to be coming from near that ridge" "well should we say something" "what and what draw attention to ourselves" "yeah I guess your right let’s just try to sneak around" we managed to go around without being noticed. When we reach Goodsprings we talk to Chet, the general store owner, about supply’s. in our discussion I mention the incident down by the turn and he says "oh that’s just Sunny she’s always clearing out them geckos from the well nasty little buggers they can rip apart a man if there’s enough of 'em" by the time we get out to the animals with our gear Carlos seems to have woke up and is nowhere to be found. "well I guess it’s my turn to get him" as I walk into the bar I see him passed out in a corner I wasn’t going to carry him he’s been nothing but useless weight since we started this trip I went back outside to talk to Jake, and we both agreed to just leave him.


The rest of our trip was pretty uneventful, until we reached a canyon the road went through, well it wasn’t really a canyon more of a trench built before the war. "Bryce I don’t like the look of this maybe we should go around" "don’t be a sissy that'll add another day if not two onto the trip" "well Bryce I just have this bad feeling I really don’t think we should go this way" "oh come on Jake were less than a mile from McCarran nothing’s going to happen who would be stupid enough to raid a caravan next to the main NCR military camp in the Mohave" "Bryce I’ve heard stories about the raiders here so hopped up on Phyco and other chems they even attack each other" "yeah stories their just that no truth behind them at all" reluctantly Jake agreed to follow me in. we walked for about half an hour when we decided to stop for lunch. It was near noon when we stopped at an old overturned semitrailer there was an overpass just ahead. "See I told you nothing would happen Jake" I said "Yeah well were not thro..." a beam of light hits Jake right in the chest, before he can finish, and before my eyes he disintegrates into a pile of ash. I don’t know how long I stood there just staring at what was once my best friend... then there was a loud crack, the next thing I remember is waking up in McCarran the doc told me I was attacked by fiends, those chem fueled raiders that live in the area, it was then I decided to join the rangers and swore revenge on the fiends.

“Well that’s a nice story and all but we really need to get that leg fixed and get you out of this vault... and then I need to have a little chat with Motorrunner”


The author's comments:
This simple article started as a short story for School but my teacher suggested I submit it to a fan-fic website so here it is.

Seth C.

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